It is well known that entering and exiting a bathtub can be hazardous to a bather. The typical home bathroom setting often includes items made from porcelain, hard plastics, tile, and other like materials. The surfaces of such materials are known to become slippery when wet. Typically a bather has to step over a bathtub wall to enter and exit a bathtub. This causes the bather to maintain balance on one foot while the foot is located on a potentially wet and slippery surface. The challenge of entering and exiting a bathtub is exacerbated when the bather's balance is impaired due to advanced age, injury, illness or other medical condition.
One method of greatly reducing the hazards to bathers it to provide a sturdy device for the bather to manually grasp, to assist in maintaining balance and stability, while entering and exiting a bathtub. This type of device is generally referred to as a tub grip. Nearly all bathtubs have at least one portion that is unimpeded by obstacles, such as the walls of the room, by which the bather enters and exits the bathtub. One common arrangement for providing a sturdy support is to attach such a support to an unimpeded portion of the bathtub. This provides a device that supplies stability where it is most needed and can be most conveniently utilized by the bather.
In general, there are deficiencies in exiting tub grips that can be traced to the functionality and design of current devices. One such deficiency is the lack of overall strength and stability of present tub grips. The stability of current devices is undermined by the method of attachment. Attachment methods typically rely on a user's strength and dexterity to secure the tub grip to a bathtub wall. One such attachment method utilizes a threaded rod, with one end attached to a knob and the other end passing through a nut that is secured within the tub grip. The user attaches the device to the bathtub wall by manually turning or twisting the knob, which moves one or more sections of the tub grip into contact with the bathtub wall to form an attachment. This process, and others like it, provide profound challenges to users that lack the hand strength, due to advanced age, injury, illness, or other medical condition, to perform such an operation. Any requirement above using a mild manual force to attach and detach a tub grip renders the tub grip unusable for a portion of the population.
Another deficiency in current tub grips is the limited number of times that a tub grip can be attached and detached from a bathtub wall before the device is rendered ineffective due to wear and tear of components. The numerous attachments and detachments, coupled with the relatively large forces needed to secure the tub grip to a bathtub wall, cause components to deform and fail over time. These failures erode the usefulness of the device over time.